IDF Counter Qassam With Air Strike

Above: The Van Carrying Hamas

In their fight against terrorist activities in the region (giving priority to targets launching the Qassam rockets into Isreal), Israel Defense Forces reportedly killed at least 12 Palestinians on Wednesday from a barrage of air strikes in the Gaza Strip. Sadly the report also adds that three of these casualties were children, one of them a six month old baby.

The first missile attack was on a van (pictured above) carrying five Hamas militants. According to military intelligence, these men were planning to carry out an attack against Israel; they were also involved in firing Qassam rockets into Israel and planting explosives.

According to local residents, these five men underwent training outside the Strip (either in Syria or Iran). They returned home after the border was breached in January. Apparently they were men on a mission.

This was confirmed by Hamas: the dead included a senior engineer (involved in the production of the Qassam rockets) and a commander of a rocket-launching squad (that fires the Qassam at Israeli targets on a daily basis). Below is a picture of Qassam rockets displayed by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade (the armed branch of Hamas).

Below: Qassam Rockets

The next successful strike was against a Jabalya refugee camp where one militant was killed. Palestinians in the camp were also believed to have been firing Qassams into Israel.

Several hours later, another strike near Beit Hanun took place. This is where the children were reportedly killed.

Below: Palestinian boy who survived one of the air strikes.

“If this claim is true, it’s a good reason to ask what these children were doing in Qassam launching areas,” said an IDF official in defense. “We have seen in the past how terrorists use children to pick up launchers that were used to fire rockets into Israel.”

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for an end to the Qassam rocket attacks against Israel. In her meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, she condoned the action of Hamas against the Jewish state: “The issue is that the rocket attacks need to stop.”

She also stressed the situation with food supplies being limited due to the recent fighting. Rice said that “there needs to be due concern for the innocent people and the humanitarian situation in Gaza.”

“I said once again to the prime minister, ‘We were all sorry about the death of the Israeli university student,’” said Rice in an interview, “and affirmed to him that we will continue to state clearly that the rocket attacks against Israel need to stop.”

The Israeli student being referred to by Rice was killed by a Qassam rocket fired towards Israel from the Strip. He was the first casualty of the rocket firings since May of last year. Hamas claimed responsibility for his death – adding that it was done to avenge the death of their militants – triggering the series of retaliatory attacks by the IDF.

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